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Module KNOWLEDGE, POWER, INSTITUTIONS

Module code: AN344
Credits: 5
Semester: 1
Department: ANTHROPOLOGY
International: Yes
Coordinator: Dr Jamie Saris (ANTHROPOLOGY)
Overview Overview
 

Few ideas have so firmly entrenched themselves in social scientific discourse over the last forty years or so more than the notion that knowledge and power are inextricably bound up with one another, and, further, that a critical aspect of relations of domination are connected to groups of people getting to know one another “scientifically”. Crucial to this way of thinking is an implicit or explicit notion of “institution” defined as relatively structured parts of social life, generally with some connection to the state, generally committed to visualising and solving a social “problem”. Weaving these levels together, are specific types of subjects and subjectivities -- the sick, the bad, the mad, the dangerous to know – and, on the reforming side – doctors, nurses, wardens, activists, and missionaries (among others) – interested in somehow making certain classes of humanity “discernable” and “better”.

The purpose of this module is three-fold. The first is to introduce the student to some of the ideas in the writings of Michel Foucault, who is practically impossible to ignore in any discussion of power and knowledge. The second is to introduce several ideas concerning institutions that echo one another to an extent, but that also diverge in crucial ways. The third is to look at some work in Anthropology clearly influenced by these sources.

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